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Sunday, September 13, 2009

Death of Big Media is a good thing

I do not lament the death of big media in this country, in fact I applaud it. It is not only technology that is hastening the downfall of the newspaper or the big television networks, it is their ideology. The business model of the newspaper does not work anymore, news is more efficiently delivered online-even if its paid for.

The New York Times could save a bundle of money by giving all of its subscribers a free Kindle and stop printing the paper edition. Think about that. What if your big local paper announced it would give you a Kindle or a Netbook for your subscription dollars. Newspaper companies don't even want to consider this right now, but it makes sense.

Then there is their ideological bias. The newspapers in this country, especially the largest ones, have become so leftist that they are downright socialist in outlook. The recent Thomas Friedman column is an example of that rampant tyranny gene growing.

Of course if you get a Kindle or Netbook from your local big daily who is to say you wouldn't also get e-editions of the National Review or the Washington Times? You can bet that when millions and millions of people start paying for news to get these devices that conservative and libertarian alternatives will be offered.

Even satellite and cable television networks are finding that the internet is part of their competition. Google and Youtube are going to start selling movie downloads, something Netflix already does. Who is to say that pro-freedom media groups won't form to offer online television "channels"?

Broadcast is becoming widecast. Soon you will have dozens or hundreds or thousands of online viewing options. Some of them will be big studio productions and some of them will be home-made. They will have about as level a playing field as anyone can imagine.

Imagine a day when the biggest news scandals are ignored by the "mainstream" media but everyone knows about it. Those who still depend on the old media for news were scratching their heads last week when Van Jones resigned amid "weeks" of scandal. New York Times readers found out about it 3 days later.

I think we should all be looking forward to the day when conservative and libertarian internet TV channels reach millions of viewers.